USDA and HHS launch Harvest to Hallways, investing in school kitchens, local farm procurement, and nutrition research to bring real food to cafeterias.
Bravo Secretaries Rollins and Kennedy! Only dyed in the wool ideologues will object to this thoughtful, sensible program. Healthy adults come from healthy children. Well done, MAHA!
After seeing what is given at the schools, I could not in good conscience continue.
The highly processed, preservative and sugar laden snacks are creating a whole new generation of poor nutritional habits in kids. It is very sad. I’m hoping the new (and existing) efforts can be multiplied in such a way to improve the future of our kids. Go MAHA
I wonder if MAHA, Sec Kennedy & Sec Rollins understand how K-12 qualified each food or ingredient for the menu? For example, in a past life I worked at Heinz, their lobbyists were able to get sugary ketchup classified as counting as a fruit. There are other disgusting things such as turkey goo cooked in a bag to resemble a turkey breast. No muscle meat in there at all, just squishy slime, preservatives and thickeners. (They sell some of the same crap in grocery stores. You can tell by the price. The real stuff with whole muscle is usually obvious but, always ask to look at the ingredients when at the service deli).
Please figure out how the largest school systems in the country could cook meals from scratch. Having a child who went through the NYC school system the time and pay scale for cooks and kitchen staff was very low. Add in the overcrowded schools and lack of a decent meal period for each child it is amazing to see that children were fed. The city school system put in place all the nutritional standards that the Obamas started but good home cooked meals were not present. Please, please, please change the system from the ground up. 🙏
Obama's Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act created federal nutritional minimum standards for school meals - and other nutritional and fitness programs for children. The 2010 law explicitly sought to bring more food from local farms and gardens into school meals. HHFKA improved school meals while increasing use of food from local farms and gardens.
HHFKA gave USDA new regulatory authority to impose detailed nutritional requirements on federally subsidized school meals. USDA subsequently implemented new meal patterns, including requirements concerning fruits and vegetables, whole grains, calories and fats.
The Obama administration explicitly presented the law as an intervention against childhood obesity and unhealthy eating. Michelle Obama's Let's Move! campaign was closely associated with it.
Harvest to Hallways is putting token amounts of money into how schools obtain and prepare food:
$50 million for cafeteria equipment and infrastructure and "up to $25 million" in additional Farm to School grants and $30 million in NIH research funding
promotion of an already existing Local Option procurement mechanism
encouragement of the Pledge for Healthier School Meals
Bravo Secretaries Rollins and Kennedy! Only dyed in the wool ideologues will object to this thoughtful, sensible program. Healthy adults come from healthy children. Well done, MAHA!
Well said, thank you!
Highly processed "food-like" items have "no" place in our schools.
Our children deserve nothing less than "real" food.
This is great news!
I used to volunteer at our local Food Bank.
After seeing what is given at the schools, I could not in good conscience continue.
The highly processed, preservative and sugar laden snacks are creating a whole new generation of poor nutritional habits in kids. It is very sad. I’m hoping the new (and existing) efforts can be multiplied in such a way to improve the future of our kids. Go MAHA
Great work!!
At last we get some common sense. Bravo/brava,
Who would ever oppose this?
I wonder if MAHA, Sec Kennedy & Sec Rollins understand how K-12 qualified each food or ingredient for the menu? For example, in a past life I worked at Heinz, their lobbyists were able to get sugary ketchup classified as counting as a fruit. There are other disgusting things such as turkey goo cooked in a bag to resemble a turkey breast. No muscle meat in there at all, just squishy slime, preservatives and thickeners. (They sell some of the same crap in grocery stores. You can tell by the price. The real stuff with whole muscle is usually obvious but, always ask to look at the ingredients when at the service deli).
Excellent. ✝️🇺🇲✅️👀💯
Please figure out how the largest school systems in the country could cook meals from scratch. Having a child who went through the NYC school system the time and pay scale for cooks and kitchen staff was very low. Add in the overcrowded schools and lack of a decent meal period for each child it is amazing to see that children were fed. The city school system put in place all the nutritional standards that the Obamas started but good home cooked meals were not present. Please, please, please change the system from the ground up. 🙏
This is wonderful! Check with lettucegrow.com. This could be a classroom project that would help kids watch their plants grow in the classroom.
IMHO: Very good and worthwhile article.
Obama's Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act created federal nutritional minimum standards for school meals - and other nutritional and fitness programs for children. The 2010 law explicitly sought to bring more food from local farms and gardens into school meals. HHFKA improved school meals while increasing use of food from local farms and gardens.
HHFKA gave USDA new regulatory authority to impose detailed nutritional requirements on federally subsidized school meals. USDA subsequently implemented new meal patterns, including requirements concerning fruits and vegetables, whole grains, calories and fats.
The Obama administration explicitly presented the law as an intervention against childhood obesity and unhealthy eating. Michelle Obama's Let's Move! campaign was closely associated with it.
Harvest to Hallways is putting token amounts of money into how schools obtain and prepare food:
$50 million for cafeteria equipment and infrastructure and "up to $25 million" in additional Farm to School grants and $30 million in NIH research funding
promotion of an already existing Local Option procurement mechanism
encouragement of the Pledge for Healthier School Meals
Obama did this with bipartisan legislation - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthy,_Hunger-Free_Kids_Act_of_2010
Obama did this better 15 years ago without the shows - https://sph.washington.edu/news-events/news/obama-era-school-nutrition-policy-led-better-diets-students-faces-changes
Then why are kids still obese? Obviously, it needs to be done better. It wasn't good enough.
Absolutely outstanding
America leading the world once again
Figuring out the processes of implementing real nutrition to the young
Outstanding investment that will pay dividends
Giving them the nutrients their biological bodies require to be at their best
Better physically and better mentally
Imagine what these children are going to achieve as they grow into your future
Such a relief to see these changes.